General Mills Beats Expectations as Consumers Eat at Home During Pandemic
July 01 2020 - 8:19AM
Dow Jones News
By Micah Maidenberg
General Mills Inc. beat Wall Street forecasts for sales and
profit for its fiscal fourth quarter as consumers stocked up on its
food amid coronavirus-related lockdowns.
The producer of Cheerios cereal, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Nature
Valley granola bars and other products reported Wednesday $5.02
billion in sales for the quarter that ended May 31, up from $4.16
billion a year earlier and ahead of the $4.99 billion that analysts
predicted.
Comparable sales rose 16% in the quarter.
The Minneapolis-based company reported a profit of $625.7
million, or $1.02 a share, up from $570.2 million, or 94 cents a
share, for the comparable quarter a year earlier.
The company's adjusted profit of $1.10 a share was four cents
higher than what analysts predicted for that metric, according to
FactSet.
In the U.S. and Canada, General Mills reported significant
growth across several product lines, including refrigerated baked
goods, soups and flour. Sales jumped 75% for its meals and baking
business in the U.S. and 26% for cereals in the market.
Comparable sales for the North America business increased 28%,
the company said, and totaled $3.2 billion.
"The company expects consumer concerns about Covid-19 virus
transmission and the recession to drive elevated demand for food at
home, relative to pre-pandemic levels," General Mills said.
Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2020 08:04 ET (12:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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